Benito

Benito, 40, is married to Marleni, the mother of his 7 children. However, he lives with only 5 of them, and they range from 4 to 18 years of age. This family lives in their own home in the indigenous community of Inchatingari in the district of Perene, in Chanchamayo province.

Benito has worked ever since he was a child. Even at a young age, he was already working cultivating his parent's land, and this is how he learned to farm. He now supports his family working as a farmer. He has been farming for more than 20 years, and over all of this time he has had good times, and has also had to face some bad experiences.

He currently has 4 lots of land in coffee production, and 2 other parcels of land where he is growing citrus fruit, avocados and achiote trees.

He says, "this past year I renewed my coffee farm (put in small plants), and to do this I devoted my time to clearing and fertilizing the land so that they will have healthy growth."

When his fields require no further care, he hires himself out as a farmworker to work on other parcels of land. This way he gets extra income for his daily expenses.

He sells all of his products in the Pichanaki fruit market. Buyers come to this market from various cities, and they pay a fair price for his harvested products.

One of his goals is to renew some of his other crops, because some of his coffee fields are old and their production of beans is diminishing. This loan that he hopes to get will be his 3rd from MFP. As such, he gives his word that he will be punctual with his payments. The thing he likes the most is working with his group, because there he can laugh and converse with his fellow group members. The name of his group is “Productores Inchatingari," and he feels very comfortable being a part of this group. The money from this loan will be used to purchase coffee seeds, sacks of organic fertilizer, and to pay for workers that he will hire to put in the small coffee plants.